Chapter 20 - The Vault In Boston
By midnight, Claire, Marcus, and Victor Dupont stood inside the subterranean vault beneath the Vance-Sterling Foundation in Boston.
The room was constructed from reinforced steel, lined with antique safety deposit boxes that had remained unopened for forty years.
Marcus stepped up to Box 1976, inserting his grandfather’s master key alongside the digital biometric scanner Claire operated.
The heavy steel door clicked open with a loud, hydraulic hiss, revealing a small iron chest wrapped in heavy leather straps.
Marcus pulled the chest out, placing it onto the central stone table under the bright halogen ceiling lights.
Inside lay three yellowed parchment documents, a vintage brass compass, and a sealed glass vial containing an unknown golden liquid.
Claire picked up the top parchment document, unrolling it carefully to reveal a map of an offshore facility located in the Atlantic Ocean.
At the bottom of the map was a bold, handwritten instruction written in Arthur Sterling’s distinct, dark blue fountain pen ink:
“To whoever opens this box: The turbine patent is not an energy source; it is the power key to the Atlantic Defense Grid.”
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“The secondary activation codes are hidden in Vault 4 at the United States Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia.”
“If the Dupont and Sterling families do not unite the codes before the spring equinox, the offshore grid will shut down forever.”
